When Nobody Died
by E. Limberg
Summary: Mac and Stella must investigate a shooting at a local school.  Stella befriends one of the little boys there, only to find out that he is being abused.  What can she do to save him?  Minor character death.  MS later.
1. The Murders

**When Nobody Died**

**Chapter 1: The Murders**

"_From underneath the trees, we watch the sky_

_Confusing stars for satellites_

_I never dreamed that you'd be mine_

_But here we are, we're hear tonight_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive"_

"Stella and Hawkes, double homicide," Mac hands the file to her. "Flack is already there. Danny and Lindsay, you're with me on a robbery, one dead. Let's get moving."

"Hold it," Gerard enters. "Forget your assignments. You're all now on the shooting at Jefferson Elementary School; two dead teachers and five dead students have been found already, and they're still looking." They look at each other, shocked. "Get working."

"Stella and I will drive; get all the equipment in our cars and grab Adam," Mac orders. They hurriedly pack the equipment and their cases before departing from the lab.

**Nobody**

"Where is everyone now?" Mac asks Don.

"Still in their rooms unless there was a dead body in it."

"Is there anywhere in the school large enough for all of them?"

"The gym maybe, but there's a body in there."

"I want Flack, Lindsay, and Danny going around to interview everyone. Adam, I want you to take panoramic pictures of everything before anything else is done. Then Sheldon, Stella, and I will begin with our normal processing. Questions?" Mac instructs.

"Taylor, there's a whole crowd of parents out there wanting to know if their kid is okay. When will the kids be released?" Gerard asks.

"As soon as there is a cleared path out of the school, we will set up a system calling the parents so they can pick their kids up. Until then, the kids are safe in here. We'll try to get them home as soon as we can, but we have to be thorough."

"Where should we start?" Adam asks, looking around.

"We'll go clockwise around the squares, working our way up."

They go back to the cars and get their kits. "Stella, where are you going?" Hawkes calls to her as she wanders off towards the playground.

She either doesn't hear him or ignores him. Mac quickly follows her, "What's wrong?"

Stella points to the slide, which is smeared with blood. "There's another kid."

"Hawkes, I want you to start here. Is Peyton here yet?"

"Yes, we've got two trucks for transporting the bodies. Sid is at the morgue preparing the tables and equipment for doing these autopsies."

"Adam's probably gotten done with the first body. You can get started on that, and I'll take the next one," he puts a hand on her shoulder. "We're going to find the guy who did this."

"I know we will." She gloves up and begins snapping photos of the body. She lifts the boy up to see if there was an exit wound but finds none. As she lays him back down, she hears footsteps behind her.

"Where's Mac?" Gerard asks.

"Taking pictures with Adam. Why?"

"These parents won't listen to me; he's going to have to tell them," he starts walking through the area she hasn't cleared yet.

"Don't move another step. You're going to contaminate my scene."

"I'm the one in charge here."

"No, you're just the one getting all the credit for what Mac does because he despises the media. Now please stay out of that area. And you should just call Mac because you won't understand our path to the next body."

**A/N: There's eight more chapters to this. I'll probably update like every other day. Hopefully I can get it up before the beginning of September. I just went to the dentist. They told me I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out because the bottom ones are coming in crooked. How do you spell that word? I can't figure it out. Anyway... my teeth really hurt now 'cause the lady scraped at them for like twenty minutes. And my ears hurt too for some reason. I had band pictures this morning; in two more hours I get to back to band. I think we're painting again. But this time it's not raining. And for those of you who read my story Freezing Together and got to hear me complain about summer reading, I finished My Antonia. That book was extremely boring; the most exciting thing was when the one guy committed suicide. I'm fifty pages into To Kill a Mockingbird. I haven't read yet for today though. Well I guess I'll update again for you guys Wednesday. Please tell me what you think of the beginning. And just so you know, this story does get a little sad; there is a character death, but it is not Mac or Stella or anyone from the team. And for those of you who like Mac/Stella, I did add some of that later on. Thanks.**


	2. The Brave Boy

**Chapter 2: The Brave Boy**

"_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died"_

"Find anything yet?" Mac asks, heading back to his dead body.

"Nope. The only thing useful here is the bullet still in the body."

"Gerard told me I need to remind you who's in charge."

"You, I know. I was just trying to preserve the scene. You have to tell him to keep out of our way if he wants this to get closed as soon as possible."

"I did; he probably won't listen though. Anyway, the next body is in the gym; I've got that one. There was one down the hall from that; Adam was almost done there. Hawkes is still outside so I guess it's yours."

Stella follows him down the hallway, peeking in the gym to see what he got. "That'll take you a while."

"Adam is supposed to help me process when he finishes with this floor; I don't think there were any other bodies until upstairs.

"See you in a while." She heads off to the next body, this one of a teacher. "Having fun, Adam?"

"Do you know if Mac has returned? He asked me to help him in the gym."

"Yes, he's expecting you soon."

"Can I leave this here?" he points to his high-tech camera system.

"Sure."

She takes a few pictures, then finds a fiber on the woman's sleeve. Carefully she bags it and stores it in her kit. This shot was a through-and-through; she glances around the hall for the bullet, a more thorough search to come later. However, there is no need; just beside a classroom door lays the bullet.

As she puts the bullet in an evidence bag, the door slowly creeps open. Quickly she steps in front of the opening, blocking the view of the dead woman.

The little boy with his head sticking out of the door looks up at her, terrified. "Please don't hurt me. Jimmy dared me to open it."

"I won't hurt you. I'm with the police," Stella smiles at him. She gently guides him back into the room. "Where is your teacher?"

"She's out there. We think he killed her," the little boy says quietly.

"What's your name?"

"Mitchell."

"I'm Stella," she tells him, finding the whole class listening.

One girl raises her hand. "When can we go home?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure. My partners are going around asking questions so we can find this guy and put him in jail. It might take them a while. When they're done, we'll call your parents so they can come get you."

"How come you got a gun?" another boy asks.

"Sometimes the only way to stop a bad guy from hurting someone is to kill him. We hardly ever have to do this though. Seeing the gun is sometimes enough to frighten them into confessing."

"Is that the bad guy?" Mitchell points to the door.

Stella turns quickly, surprised to find Mac there. "No, that's Mac. He's also a police officer."

He joins her at the front of the room, waving. "Where's their teacher?"

"I think she's the one outside the door," she whispers.

**A/N: Next chapter it gets sad. Either that or it's the chapter after that. Then five or six is really sad too. I've spent almost my whole day at school. I had to get my schedule this morning; the only teacher I know is my Spanish one because I had her last year. And the band director obviously. Then my brothers went to a friend's house, and his mother is a gym teacher at the middle school. We had this whole brownie competition a couple years ago; it was kind of funny. Except she lied and said she won when I really did. Anyway she said that my history teacher knows a lot about, well, history; sounds like I could hear some stories like last year. Except that teacher's stories half the time had nothing to do with history. After that I had band for three hours. And I have it for another three hours tonight. I hope it rains because I don't want to stand outside for another three hours. My feet hurt now. Shoot, I have to read. Let's see, I can do half an hour now, half an hour before NY, and half an hour after hopefully. Then I might be able to write some. Well I think that's it. And just so you guys know, we haven't gotten our bill yet for WOW, which is cable, internet, and phone, and my mom didn't pay it last month on time so they threatened to turn it off. So I guess they could turn it off if they don't get there money soon. But if we didn't get the bill, we can't pay it, so it's their fault, or the post offices. And she thinks she didn't pay it last month because she didn't get it then either until they said you have one week to pay or it'll all be turned off. So I guess don't be surprised if I can't update because I don't have internet. Please continue reviewing.**


	3. The Warnings from a Friend

**Chapter 3: The Warnings from a Friend**

"_And I'm singing_

_Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive_

_Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive_

_And in the air the fireflies_

_Our only light in paradise_

_We'll show the world they were wrong_

_And teach them all to sing along_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive"_

An hour later, they were ready to evacuate the first floor. Through the secretary's computer they had gotten a list of all the students and phone numbers. While Adam and Mac started on the second floor, the others make calls to parents.

After forty-five minutes, only four kids hadn't been picked up, Mitchell being one of them. Stella checks the time on her phone. "I should go help Mac."

"Can I come?" Mitchell asks.

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're too young."

"How long until my brother can leave too?" His mom had said she'd pick him up when she could get his brother too. It will be a while since his brother's room is on the third floor.

"A few hours."

"Can I go on the playground?"

"That's not such a good idea."

"Why?"

"Well…," she struggles, not wanting to tell him of the dead kid.

"The killer is still out there," Lindsay helps. "We know he's not within this yellow tape, but he might still be around outside of it. Gun's are so dangerous that he doesn't have to be close to you to hurt you."

"Okay."

"Look, I need to get back to work so we can catch the bad guy. The sooner we find him, the sooner you can come back to school."

"Will I get to say goodbye to you?" he asks.

"Yes, I'll make sure I come down before you leave," she ruffles his hair, then heads back inside.

"What do you want me to do, Mac?" Stella comes up behind him, a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't get attached to that little boy, Stella." She frowns. "He has a family."

"His mother didn't sound relieved like all the other parents did. She won't come get him until his brother can leave too."

Mac looks at her for a few seconds. "People have different ways of showing emotions." She doesn't respond, knowing he's right. "There's a body just inside the bathroom around the corner."

"I'm on it."

Three hours later the whole school had been processed and the last of the students are getting picked up. "Your mother hasn't come yet?" Stella asks Mitchell who is still sitting where he was earlier.

"No. I haven't seen my brother either."

"Let me see what I can do." She goes over to Lindsay who has the list, "Can I see that a second? Sixteen names left."

"Actually ten. Six kids were absent," Lindsay points to marks on the side.

"So that leaves nine names minus Mitchell. And there were… nine bodies of students," Stella looks for his brother's name. "The good news: we have names for the bodies; we just have to match them to the right body."

"The bad news?"

"Mitchell's brother is one of the dead bodies," she looks over at him.

Mac and Hawkes walk over to them, "Do we have IDs on any of our victims?"

"Nine names right here for the kids; we just have to figure out which one is which," Stella hands over the list.

"What's the kid still doing here?" Mac asks.

"His brother is one of the victims."

"Call the parents of all the victims. Have them meet us at the station. We'll take the boy with us since we'll see the mother at the station."

**A/N: Hopefully this doesn't get messed up too; I'm not quite sure how that happened. Anyway... I'm almost finished with To Kill a Mockingbird; only fifteen more pages, so I should finish it tonight. Then I just have to finish the charts for all of the books and rewrite them so they look somewhat neat, which is hard, because they give you like no space for plot. And we're doing good at band, well we're where we should be painting wise. Only around twenty dots left I think and two days of painting to go. I still only have the fight song checked off. I know the other pregame songs and all but one football show one; I just haven't found someone to check them off yet. I like the one field commander, but she's always busy; I'll have to wait until the days where we can stay after to check stuff off. And today we went on the practice field; it was all muddy because they water it for whatever reason. I was the one getting yelled at because I didn't get to my spot on time, when I was the only one in the right spot in our line after we do this turn thing. Everybody was back too far so you ended up with three sides of a box, then the fourth side wasn't attached. Of course, I guess I couldn't blame them for being out of place; we couldn't see the hash marks on the field. Well I guess this is it for today. I'll update again Sunday.**


	4. The Signs of Pain

**Chapter 4: The Signs of Pain**

"_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died"_

"Hawkes, Danny, and Lindsay, start logging evidence in. Actually, Sheldon, why don't you go down to the morgue and see what they've got so far. Adam, develop those pictures you took. Don and I will talk to the parents," Mac starts to walk off.

"What about me?" Stella asks.

"Take care of the kid."

She looks down at Mitchell, "Why don't we go to my office?"

"Is my brother dead?" he asks quietly.

She's not sure what to say, "We… yes."

The little boy looks frightened, "Do I have to go home?"

"Why wouldn't you want to go home, Mitchell? You get to stay at home for a couple days while the school is cleaned up; you have all that time to play instead of… having to use your brain all day long."

"I want to stay with you."

"Why? Won't it be nice to get to stay home with your parents?"

"I don't have a dad."

"Then it'll just be you and your mom for a few days."

"She's mean," he says, then immediately covers his mouth like he said something bad.

"Why is she mean?" she presses.

He shakes his head. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Okay," Stella leads him a short way down the hall. "I'll be waiting for you out here." She pulls out her phone and calls Mac. "We've got a problem here. He doesn't want to go hoe. He said his mother is mean, then wouldn't say why. I think she abuses him."

"I'm kind of busy now with the parents. We'll talk to her afterwards. Try to keep him talking."

"Okay." She hangs up as the bathroom door opens. "Hungry?" Mitchell nods. "Let's go see what's in the vending machines."

Five minutes later they come back to her office with two bags of Cheetos, a pack of ho-hos, and two bottles of water. "What grade are you in?"

"Third," he opens the ho-hos. "Want one?"

"You can have them both," she smiles.

"Do you have kids?"

"No. I'm not married yet either so it might be a while before I do."

"Why do you have to get married first?"

"Because…," again she doesn't really know what to say.

"How come my mom's not married?"

"Well she probably was. But then her and your father didn't get along well so they split up." Stella takes her jacket off. "Aren't you hot in those long sleeves?"

"Yeah," he rolls them up before getting another cheeto out of the bag.

She looks at him for signs of abuse. "Where did you get those bruises?" she points to his left forearm.

"Fell down the stairs," he says automatically, not even looking at it.

"Do you get hurt a lot?"

"Yes."

"Does your mom do this to you?"

"Ye-," he stops, shaking his head, "no."

Mac knocks on the door and enters, a woman behind him, "This is his mother."

"I'm so glad you're okay," she runs to him and hugs him. He tries to get away from her.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you privately about Mitchell," Stella requests. "Mitchell, can you go with Mac for a few minutes?"

**A/N: Even sadder. Yet somehow, I did manage to make it sadder than this. You'll have to wait for the next couple chapters before you find out what happens to him. I think there's some Mac/Stella before that. So it gets happy first... kind of. I sort of forgot to update earlier. I was busy editting five stories for this contest thing I found that's supposed to start today but didn't. I'm putting Silly Games, sequels included, in Comedy and Romance, Superman in Romance and Angst, and this other story I haven't posted yet called My Best Friend in Romance and Short Story. That one's really cute I think, but maybe that's just because I wrote it. Let's see... tomorrow my brother's go to the dentist and I have to use Sparknotes to finish my summer reading charts. Then maybe I'll type if I have time. So... I haven't really done much else except go to band during the week. School starts Wednesday; I really don't want to go back. But I pass by my locker a lot this year; actually, I take that back. I pass by it a lot in the morning. Anyway... I'll probably update Tuesday sometime. Then Wednesday if I don't have too much homework before I go to band. Please keep reviewing.**


	5. The Costly Mistakes

**Chapter 5: The Costly Mistakes**

"_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died"_

"Your son told me he didn't want to go home. Why could that be when he's only… eight?" Stella asks.

"Does he know his brother is dead?"

"Yes."

"Maybe home reminds him of his brother and that makes him sad."

"Okay," she nods, "but why would he tell me his mother is mean?"

"He got grounded last week for not doing his chores; he might still be upset about that."

"I saw the bruises on his arms. He said he fell down the stairs, but the bruise looked more like it was made by someone grabbing him."

"You think I abuse my son?"

"He started to say yes when I asked him that."

"He's under a lot of stress right now; his brother was just shot at school by some lunatic."

"Did his brother stand up for him?" Mitchell's mother says nothing, just stares at Stella. "You see, before he knew his brother was dead, he had no problem going home. Now that his brother isn't here to protect him, he's afraid to go home."

"I have a question for you now, Detective. If you think I abuse my son and my other son stood up against me for him, how did Mitchell still get hurt then?"

"To be at the same school, your other son could only be one, maybe two, years older than Mitchell. He couldn't stop you from hurting his brother all the time."

"There are definitely times when it's hard to be a single parent, but I don't take my anger out on Mitchell."

"What happened to their father?" she questions.

"They have different fathers. Both of them were results of… one night stands."

"To have it happen once is bad enough; how'd you let it happen again?"

"I needed the money to take care of my son. No one would hire a high school drop out."

"There was no on else to take your anger out on but Mitchell. Ever since he was born, he's been neglected and abused because of the mistakes you made," Stella explains.

"I'm out of here; get me my son."

"Your son is being taken in by child services."

"You can't; what proof do you have?"

"Plenty."

Mac opens the door to the interrogation room. "Detective Bonasera, we need to have a talk. My office now." As she stalks off, he apologizes, "I'm sorry for her behavior. You and your son are free to go. We'll contact you if we have further questions or information about your son's death."

"How can you let her take Mitchell home? You're sending him to his death," she yells when he enters.

"You're off the case."

"What?"

"You will no longer be working with the rest of us on this case. Tomorrow I will have a different assignment for you."

"So you're just going to forget that he's being abused?"

"You're lucky I'm not suspending you." She continues to stare at him as he stares at her, determined not to lose. He looks away first. "You're dismissed, Stella. You can go home for today."

"I'm not leaving until you have that lady arrested."

"You'll be sitting there an awfully long time." She shrugs. "Get out of my office."

"No."

"One week on suspension. Don't make me add more."

"Fine." On her way out, she slams the door shut.

**A/N: Mac's messed everything up again. And of course he'll have to try to make it right. But something has to get in the way. So my dog ran away yesterday. My brother let her out when he went out to throw the baseball against the garage door and she never came in. We think this one kid up the street's dog came down and she chased him out of the yard. We walked all along this major road looking for her. The neighbor saw her and tried to get her in the car to take her home, but she just ran away. While my mom went to drive around the block looking for her, she came back. She was all wet and muddy and smelly. She still smells gross, so I guess she'll have to get a bath soon. Anyway... school starts tomorrow. I don't want to go back. Don't make me. I need to go pack my bookbag with pencils and paper since I don't know what I need yet. So I guess I'll update either tomorrow or Thursday and tell you all about school. It's been raining like the past three days so we can't paint at band. And we only have like nine more dots to go. Well... please review for me.**


	6. The Confessions

**Chapter 6: The Confessions**

"_And as we lie beneath the stars_

_We realize how small we are_

_If they could love like you and me_

_Imagine what the world could be"_

"Open the door, Stella; I know you're in there," Mac pounds on her door for the fourth time.

Finally she opens the door. "What do you want? I was trying to sleep."

"We caught the guy who shot all the kids."

"So?"

"Just thought you'd want to know."

Stella starts to close the door but his foot stops her. "What now?"

"You look… you look beautiful when you're mad," he says nervously.

She frowns, "Since when do you notice how I look?"

"Since I first met you."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to know that I love you."

"But what about your rule about relationships between coworkers?"

"I already broke it with Peyton."

She hesitates, "What if we ruin our friendship?"

"There's nothing to be scared about, Stel."

"I'm not scared."

He steps all the way in and closes the door. "I won't hurt you."

"But it's impossible to love and not get hurt," she takes her eyes from his blue ones.

"And I think both of us have already been hurt enough by love. Only so much can go wrong before something good happens," he takes her hand in his.

"What would you do if I don't love you back?"

"I know you do."

She guides him to the couch, and they sit down. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I wanted to see you again. I miss not having you at work. It just kind of came out when you tried to close the door; I needed some way to get you to open it."

"But you do really love me?"

"Yes."

"And what have you done about Mitchell?"

"Um… not much."

"Get out," she says calmly, taking her hand away from him.

"What?"

"Just get out, Mac." Stella opens the door for him. "Now."

"Stella, we don't have enough evidence."

"Yes, we do. And if we don't get him away from her, he's not going to live long. He probably got beaten for almost telling me."

"_We_ aren't going to do anything. You're off the case and suspended. I'll have child services look into it," he promises.

"Thanks," she closes the door. "You don't have to go unless you want to."

Mac studies her for a few minutes, "Were you abused… as a child?"

"What would make you think that?"

"Just a guess," he shrugs.

"Yes," she says slowly. "Foster parents don't really care about the children they take in, just the money they get that's supposed to be to help cover the costs of the children. I was pushed down many flights of stairs, locked in closets for days, a lot of other things."

He hugs her, assuring her he'll never hurt her. "I'll keep you safe from now on."

"Mac?"

"Yes?"

"I love you too," she kisses the corner of his mouth.

**A/N: So he fixed it afterall. Or did he? Really sad in the next chapter, just so you know. So school's okay. Spanish is like the same, except I don't really know the people in my class because most of them are juniors or I'm not friends with any of the sophmores. Then I don't know anybody really in history; well, I know them, I just don't talk to them really. Pre-calculus... I have a couple friends in that class, but when do you do partner work in math? One friend in gym. There's at least four or five people in English I'm friends with; the teacher went on and on about all these books we're going to read and how we have to read like thirty pages a night, but she couldn't remember half the titles. We had our test on Huck Finn today, which reminds me, I should go look at my grades, not that there's anything up. Lunch is okay. Chemistry I think is my favorite; except when I first walked into the room, I thought I was in the wrong room because they were all like juniors. I just finished my collage for that class; I have a rubber duck and balloons and food and plastic and a microscope and lots more. The things somehow had to relate to chemistry in our life. And then there's band. It was awful today because we went outside and it's like a million degrees. Actually, the whole school if awful; the only room I'm in that's air conditioned is the band room, but most the time we go out. Chemistry might be air conditioned too; I'm not sure. So... I guess I'll update Saturday. We have our first football game tomorrow. God, I hope it's really, really cold. Please review.**


	7. The Death

**Chapter 7: The Death**

"_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died"_

Mac's cell phone rings, waking him up. He quickly answers it before it can wake Stella, who was sleeping on top of him on her couch. "Taylor."

"Is there a clock somewhere near you?" Danny asks, smiling.

"Yeah," he looks at Stella's cable box; he's forty minutes late for work. "Look, can you take care of the lab for me for an hour while I go home and shower?"

"Have a date last night?"

"No."

"Why aren't you at home then?" Danny probes for information.

"I kind of fell asleep at Stella's."

"I always thought you two were sleeping together."

"We're not sleeping together. See you in an hour." He hangs up and tries to get out from under Stella without waking her.

"Where are you going?" she asks sleepily.

"I'm kind of late for work. Sorry I woke you. I'll call you later," he kisses her cheek before leaving.

She falls back asleep, only to be woken up by her phone ringing fifteen minutes later. "I wasn't expecting later to be so soon."

"What are you talking about, Stella?" Lindsay asks.

"Nothing. Mac just said he'd call me later," she yawns.

"So you two did sleep together?"

"I guess, since he woke me up trying to get out from underneath me," Stella doesn't realize what Lindsay meant.

"But did anything happen?"

"Not really. We just talked and apparently slept."

"So you didn't… you know… with him?"

"Of course not!"

"Oh, Danny said you did. He asked me to get you to confirm it."

"How would Danny know?"

"He's the one who called Mac to ask why he wasn't at work yet."

"Mac's never going to hear the end of this," Stella smiles.

"Danny's handing out assignment. Talk to you later," Lindsay hangs up.

Noticing it's almost ten, Stella decides it's time to get up. After a cup of coffee, she showers and gets dressed. Just as she finishes putting on her makeup, her phone rings again. "Bonasera."

"Bad news, Stella," Mac says. "The boy was found dead in Central Park."

"I'll meet you there in twenty minutes." To her surprise, he doesn't tell her she's off the case or remind her she is on suspension.

Fifteen minutes later she is standing outside the yellow crime scene tape, not allowed inside. Mac walks over to her and holds up the tape. "But I'm suspended."

"I'm the boss; I want you and Sheldon to handle this. If I hear about you harassing suspects again, you'll get two weeks on suspension with no pay. Got it?" he says sternly.

She smiles, "Yes, sir."

"And Stella?"

"Yes, Mac?"

He smiles back, "Don't call me sir again."

"Thanks for letting me come back early."

"If I had listened to you, the boy wouldn't be dead right now. You were right all along."

"If we had put him in foster care, he could have still been killed. Either way he was in danger."

"You could have taken him."

She shakes her head, "Not with this job."

"You'll make a good mother some day."

"If I ever find the right man," she smirks.

**A/N: So sad. He's dead. We'll blame Mac. Or Stella will later on. So I was lazy yesterday and didn't feel like updating. There's two more chapters that will be added Tuesday and Thursday. I still have homework to do. I have to find pictures for Spanish. I just finished designing my experiment on how to tell if an egg is hard boiled or not for chemistry. That wasn't too bad; I did it on the way it rolls. Then I have to be in the community parade in like two hours. The band has to be in it every year because we are part of the community, even though the city doesn't really fund us. And we won the first football game Friday night; twenty-one to seven. We won half of them last year. Our football team hasn't been very good for like as long as I can remember. Most people come to the games to watch the band. But the football team getting better, I think. So... it was really, really hot, so Mr. Lydecker didn't make us wear our uniforms except when we did half time. That was only because Brecksville just got new uniforms so they had to wear there's. And they had new fake grass. I think we should get fake grass. Then we'd always have to march no matter what. If it's really muddy, the band doesn't normally go on the field. We just stand on the track and play. Unless it's a contest. Well, I have to finish this homework. Please keep reviewing.**


	8. The Lack of Evidence

**Chapter 8: The Lack of Evidence**

"_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died"_

"This kid went through a lot before he died," Sid looks sadly down at Mitchell's body.

"How can someone hurt an innocent child?" Stella wonders aloud. "Just like the shooting last week. What did the children do to him?"

"I heard on the news that they found maps of two other schools it looked like he was going to go to and kill some more. Do you know if that's true?"

"Mac didn't say anything like that to me. It could still be true though, but the news is almost always wrong."

Sid pulls back the sheet and starts to point out the injuries. "Severe burning on the abdomen, like he was laying on a hot stove. Bruises all over, various shades. One of the most recent ones is around the neck, like someone was using their hands to suffocate him."

"So cause of death is strangulation?"

"Yes."

"What about time of death?"

"Almost twenty-four hours ago. I'd say around three in the afternoon."

"Did he fight back?" she picks up a hand to look under the nails.

"It doesn't look like it. He didn't see it coming and couldn't stop it."

"Anything else?"

"You look nice in that shirt."

She shakes her head to herself, "See you later."

"Stel," Sheldon catches up to her, "we've got a warrant to search the house from what you got out of the kid last week and the shoe prints we found. Thought you'd like to go and question the mother some more."

"Let's go then."

**Nobody**

"Can you tell me where Mitchell is?" Stella asks his mother when she opens the door.

"I don't know. I put him to bed last night, but this morning he was gone. Probably ran away."

"That can't be possible."

"He's been going off for hours after his brother's death. He always comes back for dinner; you shouldn't have to wait long."

"We have a warrant to search your house. Your son was found in Central Park early this morning."

"Is he all right?"

"He's dead."

"And I suppose you think I did it?"

Stella sighs, "Where do you keep your shoes?"

"My closet. I think they're all in there." Hawkes goes to look for a match with the print they found. "Did you find out who shot my other son?"

"Some psycho was arrested; I don't know his name."

"We have a match," Sheldon holds up a pair of shoes.

"She was at that scene."

"Could you step outside while we look around?"

She looks around nervously, "I guess."

After searching the whole house, they have found nothing to prove she had killed Mitchell. The oven, however, was the source of the boy's burns. "If she killed him with her hands, what evidence could there be for us?"

"Let's take her to the station. There has to be some way for us to match her hands to the bruises on his neck."

"But just because her hands match doesn't mean she killed him; there could be millions of people whose hands match."

"We don't have any other evidence," Stella tries to hold back her emotions. "She's going to get away with murder and abuse."

**A/N: Will Stella find what she needs to put the mother behind bars? There's some more Mac/Stella in the last chapter for you guys. I'll post that Thursday probably unless I have too much homework. Or if my brother's won't let me on the computer; lately they've both been addicted to internet games so I don't get much time on here. If it's not up Thursday, it won't be up until Saturday because of the football game Friday; I won't have time. Okay... so I have to think of an idea for a chemistry experiment for Friday. Actually, it doesn't really have to do with chemistry. I need the idea Friday and then we have to perform the experiment and write a report and make a poster due in like three or four weeks. And I apparently did understand Huck Finn, because I only missed one question on the test. It had something to do with the direction they wanted to go. I put West 'cause Huck said something about going west in the end. My friend put south because they traveled south down the Mississippi. Both were wrong. I think it was east because they wanted to go up the Ohio. And I'm so happy that they're moving Bones to Tuesday; I can watch it all year then. And during not marching band season, I don't have to shower at like six-thirty so I can watch all my shows. Actually I think I showered during Criminal Minds because I always fell asleep during that show. So we have the To Kill a Mockingbird test tomorrow and the Antonia one Thursday; they're both essays. She said they have to be around three hundred words. That's not long for me. Most of my notes here are over three hundred words. The chapters are between five hundred and two thousand normally; it depends on whether there's lyrics. Anyway... if you have any ideas for experiments, let me know. Keep reviewing.**


	9. The Unanswerable Questions

**Chapter 9: The Unanswerable Questions**

"_We'd see the day, we'd see the day_

_When nobody died_

_We'd see the day, we'd see the day_

_When nobody died_

_We'd see the day when nobody died"_

Mac stands outside her office door, watching her stress out over the lack of evidence. When he finally enters, she takes no notice of him. He pulls the file out of her hands, "You've been staring at that for the last five hours."

"And I still haven't found anything to put her behind bars," Stella reaches to take the folder back.

Looking sternly at her, he places it down on the corner of her desk. "You know as well as I do that some cases can't be solved."

She looks away from his blue-gray eyes. "I just feel like it's my fault he was killed. She beat him to death for telling me what she does to him."

"Stel, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine; I just let her take him home even though I was aware of what he was put through."

"You're right," she stares at him for a moment before punching him in the chest as hard as she can.

He rubs the spot where she hit him, "I guess I deserved that."

"The boy would still be alive if it weren't for you."

"After the way you described foster care, he wouldn't have lived long."

"But he would have had a better chance of surviving."

"If I could change what I did in that moment, I wouldn't have let her take Mitchell. But I can't change the past."

Stella can no longer hold back her emotions. He gently wipes the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs before pulling her into a comforting embrace. Hands clinging to his shirt, she refuses to let go, not that he wants her to.

"Everything will be okay," he rubs her back.

"Not for Mitchell," she lifts her head up. "We can't even convict his killer."

"It's almost midnight; we can't help him without some rest and food. Let me take you home."

"No dinner?"

"How about midnight snack? We can stop for ice cream sundaes at that place down the street from your apartment."

"Snack? The sundae is almost as big as my breakfast." They smile at each other.

**Nobody**

"Would you like to come in for a drink?" she asks, unlocking her door.

"I think I'll just have water so I can get to sleep sometime before work starts again."

She gets two bottles of water out of the fridge, "Do you mind… can you… I… ?"

"Whatever it is, I'll do it for you. It's not a problem," Mac takes her hand.

"Thanks. You made a good pillow last night."

"Just one request: if we're going to sleep… next to each other, can we use the bed instead of the couch?"

"Of course. And I really didn't mean to fall asleep on top of you last night."

"No problem."

Stella yawns, "I think I'm going to get ready for bed." She heads to her room and gets out a pair of pajamas. When she comes out of the bathroom, he has made himself comfortable on her bed. "Are you okay in your work clothes?"

"I can manage. I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

She sits beside him and reaches over to unbutton his shirt, "In that case, the shirt can come off. The pants, however, must stay on."

After she is done unbuttoning it, he pulls the shirt off and lays it with his shoes beside the bed. She rests her head on his bare chest, fingers examining his many battle scars. "Are we going to sleep with the lights on?"

"We did the other night," she gets back up and turns them off.

Mac wraps his arms around her thin waist, "We forgot to get under the covers."

"There's a blanket at the end of the bed if you're cold."

"It's you I'm worried about."

"I'll be fine with you here."

He kisses the top of her head, "Why is it that people have to kill one another?"

"I'm still hung up on Mitchell's mother abusing him. How can you not love your own child? In my case, I wasn't their biological child so they never had to love me. But she beat her own son for no reason."

"Some things just can't be explained," he kisses her again. "You might not have had someone to love you before, but you have me from now on."

She kisses his chest above his heart, "You're the best family I've ever had."

"I'll always love you, Stella." He is surprised she doesn't respond. When he looks down at her, he finds her eyes are closed. Smiling to himself at how beautiful and peaceful she looks, he follows her lead and soon falls asleep too. The past few days had been difficult for both of them.

**A/N: I was lazy the past few days and didn't feel like updating. And I left the story open for you to decide whether Mitchell's mother ends up convicted or not. It seems like there was so much I had to tell you guys, but now I don't remember it. So my next two stories will be called My Best Friend and Escaping the Pain. Then I have to do some more typing because I've got almost two more stories done and just haven't been able to type them. They're called... Faster than Angels Fly and That's Where It Is. I have like half a page to go on the second one and then it's done. And I'm going to start a story about Stella being stalked next I think. Although I really should write my one that's about what happens with Mac and Peyton and Stella over the summer so it's up before the season starts. What other ideas do I have to write still... one where Mac and Stella are held hostage and one if she ended up being HIV positive. I think that's it. So yesterday we were at my grandma's and her condo place has paddle boats or whatever they're called in the lake that you can use. So the two that were working before were out of the water for some reason so my brother gets in the one that was broken before, which was now fixed. He yelled something about there being a spider in it and he squished it and then he said he needed someone to come with him to help him peddle. No one else would so I volunteered. I asked my dad before I got in if there were any other spiders in there and he said no. So I get in and we start peddling and I looked down towards my feet and there on the inside of the boat are two spiders. So I curl up in my seat and tell my brother to go back to the dock, which we weren't far from. He pulls the boat in on his side so I can't get out, then has to back up and turn it so I could get out. Another spider crawled across the middle thing by the stearing thing for the rutter. Finally after a lot of screaming, I could get out. There were probably even more spiders in the back of the thing. And they were like huge too; well, bigger than what I normally see here. My grandma says she has all kinds of spiders in her house; guess I'm never staying there. Okay, I'll shut up now. Please tell me what you thought of the story.**


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